Announcing the release of Fedora 14 Beta!!

Mark your calendars, and get ready to break out and have some fun: Fedora 14
will launch in early November. Fedora is the leading-edge, community-
developed, free and open source operating system that continues to deliver
innovative features to users worldwide, with a new release every six months.

But… what’s that, you say? November is oh, so, far away? Never fear – Beta
is here! Checking out the latest and greatest in Fedora’s cutting-edge
technologies is just a click away.

Stand out from the crowd. Get your taste of Fedora 14 ”now,” by trying out
our Beta release:

The beta release is the last important milestone of Fedora 14. Only critical
bug fixes will be pushed as updates leading up to the general release of
Fedora 14, scheduled to be released in early November. We invite you to
join us and participate in making Fedora 14 a solid release by downloading,
testing, and providing your valuable feedback.

Of course, this is a beta release, some problems may still be lurking. A list
of the problems we already know about is found at the [[Common F14 bugs]]
page.

If you find a bug that’s not found on that page, be sure it gets fixed before
release by reporting your discovery at https://bugzilla.redhat.com/. Thank
you!

== Features ==

Desktop enthusiasts and end users of all sorts can look forward to:
* ”’Faster loading and saving of JPEG images.”’ The libjpeg-turbo feature
nearly halves the time to load and save JPEG images on most modern machines –
meaning you’ll be seeing your digital photos even faster.
* ”’Easier virtualization for end users.”’ From the creators of KVM comes
Spice (Simple Protocol for Independent Computing Environments). This framework
allows end-users to enjoy the features they enjoy, such as accelerated 2D
graphics, encryption, and audio playing and recording, all while working in a
virtualized environment.
Are you a sysadmin? Check out the new features we have for you!
* ”’Additional IPMI support.”’ Enjoy using IPMI (Intelligent Platform
Management Interface) to manage your servers? The new ipmiutil feature adds
more functionality to existing IPMI capabilities, including SOL (Serial-over-
LAN) and identity LED management.
* ”’Tech preview of systemd.”’ Looking to the future? Check out systemd, a
next-generation replacement for Upstart and SystemV init. With faster boot
times, the ability to track processes, daemons, and sockets, and system state
snapshotting, this preview of systemd will have you prepped for the future.
Coders have lots of new development tools to try out, including:
* ”’D Programming.”’ Statically typed and compiling directly to machine
code, the D systems programming language combines the power and performance of
languages like C and C++ with the productivity of languages like Ruby and
Python.
* ”’GNUstep”’ is a GUI framework based on the Objective-C programming
language, and is a reimplementation of the NextStep environment.
* ”’Memory debugging tools.”’ Unique to Fedora 14, the gdb-heap package
allows developers to get a breakdown of how a process is using dynamic memory
– and can do unplanned memory usage debugging by attaching to runaway memory
hogs, mid-process.
* ”’Python 2.7”’ capabilities increases Fedora’s commitment to improving
portability and migration paths for developers to move to Python 3. Enhanced
debugging and integration with GCC continue to be available in Fedora 14, and
Python-related enhancements such as fixing common problems with GObject
introspection and SWIG are also introduced.
* ”’Rakudo Star”’ is the most actively developed implementation of Perl 6,
and is based on the Parrot virtual machine. Perl 6 is a major revision to
this sysadmin and developer toolbox standby, introducing elements of many
modern and historical languages.

And that’s only the beginning. A more complete list and details of all the
new features onboard Fedora 14 is available here:

There are many ways to contribute beyond bug reporting. You can help
translate software and content, test and give feedback on software updates,
write and edit documentation, help with all sorts of promotional activities,
and package free software for use by millions of Fedora users worldwide. To
get started, visit http://join.fedoraproject.org today!